The Time Keeper

Victor had expected it to be more painful when he was frozen. He feels a freedom of movement that he hasn’t had in a long time. He realizes that instead of the bed, he’s gripping an hourglass. He stands up, without any pain and without his wheelchair. A girl, Sarah, asks, “Who are you?” (169).

Sarah thought she was gripping the steering wheel but then realizes that she’s holding on to an hourglass. She thinks that this must be a dream. It’s a room she doesn’t know, and there’s an old man wearing a robe. She wanders and sees a room with a large tub of ice and four men gathered around it who aren’t moving. She runs back to the room she started in and asks the old man who he is, and he asks her how she got in here. Frightened, she runs outside to a world where there is no sound and nothing is moving, not even the snow in mid-air. She drops to the ground, curls into a ball, and covers her eyes, trying to figure out whether she’s alive or dead.